KevB Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I'm still really happy to have my more dexterous (left) hand doing all the fiddly fretting stuff playing right handed but then I do most two-handed things right handed so I'm probably not as single-hand dominant as some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 [quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1439553285' post='2843821'] It's very possible that humans would be 50% right-dominant and 50% left-dominant if the latter hadn't been discriminated against, usually on religious grounds. Left-handed = witch, or slave ot the Devil, etc. In less enlightened times many of them would have been shunned by potential sexual partners and therefore prevented from reproducing. [/quote] Good enough excuse for more procreating, I say. My other half was born left handed but was "re-educated" by the Chinese state system into being a right hander. Something I consider barbaric due to the methods they used - hitting left hands with rulers or canes when a preference was shown. Apparently its to do with Chinese writing only being capable of being written by the right hand but there are some who challenge this convention. [url="http://pinyin.info/news/2006/chinese-characters-and-left-handers/"]http://pinyin.info/n...d-left-handers/[/url] I get fed up with having to do some things right handed - every time I go through a train turnstile for example, I have to use my right hand. Mobile phone apps are particularly frustrating because I have to reach my thumb over the screen for many functions, the power button and camera buttons are also on the right hand side. But I still play right handed - mainly because I was taught drums right handed (and failed). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1439557498' post='2843887'] How do you feel about left handed pianos? [/quote] To be blunt - they strike me as particularly pointless. At least with basses the two hands have different functions, on piano both hands have to do exactly the same things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmo Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I suppose the only way you would understand why people play left handed is if right handed people try playing a bass left handed, and realise how difficult it is.That is how l feel about playing right handed. It just doesn`t feel right, or comfortable. I do find it weird that i write with my right hand, but with a rifle i am left handed, and kick a football with my left foot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 This might be better in the 'random thoughts' thread. I've been playing guitar and bass now for 40 years.... doing all the 'twiddly-twiddly' stuff with my left hand, but when I'm not playing I can hardly stir the soup or paint a big flat wall with my left hand. How can I, on the one hand, be so dextrous with my left hand, yet, on the same hand, be so useless with it? I've never found an explanation for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 [quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1439564146' post='2843992'] To be blunt - they strike me as particularly pointless. At least with basses the two hands have different functions, on piano both hands have to do exactly the same things. [/quote] The hands of a pianist have very distinctive but separate roles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1439566718' post='2844045'] The hands of a pianist have very distinctive but separate roles. [/quote] The hands..? Not really. The brain..? Yes, indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1439566718' post='2844045'] The hands of a pianist have very distinctive but separate roles. [/quote] Yes, as a bassist I have never been interfered with by the right hand of a piano player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtcat Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 At uni I did a study based around board sports where one foot leads (think skateboarding where some people put left foot at the front of the board and others the right). Essentially we all have a naturally preferred way of doing it. You can learn to do it the other way round and to a high standard but ultimately your long term progress is slower if you are fighting your body and doing it the less natural way. I think everyone should embrace their pre programmed tendency and that's why left handed instruments make perfect sense. I imagine that the reason it's uncommon in more traditional instruments is purely down to old beliefs that being left handed is a sign of something evil. That said I'm left hand dominant but find playing right handed far easier. I do however have to work really hard at slap bass as my non dominant hand is having to do far more complex stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 I think the lack of left-handed violin family instruments is down to attitudes in orchestras more than any other factor. Rightly or wrongly, I'm told that there is a perception that one left-handed violinist/cellist/bassist would stick out visually and potentially mess up their seating plan. In less formalised musical contexts these things are less of an issue, though I do know a right handed bassist who re-learned it left handed for a Beatles tribute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister RLP Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 (edited) Charlie Chaplin played the violin as a left handed. See: [url="http://mentalfloss.com/article/29813/12-violinists-known-something-else"]http://mentalfloss.c...-something-else[/url] My daughter plays the bass left handed but is right handed but has the strings as a right-hander would as this makes sense to her - lowest string at the bottom. I know of a few bassists who do this - Lee Pomeroy I think is one. Edited August 15, 2015 by Mister RLP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seashell Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 [quote name='KevB' timestamp='1439557877' post='2843894'] I'm still really happy to have my more dexterous (left) hand doing all the fiddly fretting stuff playing right handed but then I do most two-handed things right handed so I'm probably not as single-hand dominant as some. [/quote] Me too, pretty much this. Although I'm mostly left handed, I could never really decide which hand to play tennis or darts with. I seemed equally useless with both. PS - I don't think I knew you were a semi-lefty Kev, despite the numerous threads on subject and also having seen you use cutlery, lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 (edited) The one area where playing this way probably doesn't do you any favours is slap, need more dexterity in the 'wrong' hand than you actually have at your disposal. As it happens I've never been that bothered about playing that style or playing the music that employs it so much but if I was a big funk fan I might have ended up very frustrated. I'm not quite normal in any case as despite being conventionally left handed for one handed things (raquets always held leftie) I'm completely right footed at football, can barely control a ball with my left. I play the PK5 pedals almost exclusively with right foot. Edited August 16, 2015 by KevB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike257 Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 I'm not sure if I scuppered myself learning to play right handed. It never occurred to me to pick up a guitar/bass any other way - it was only when I sat behind a lefty drum kit that it made sense as I'm far more comfortable and capable behind a kit that way round, despite efforts to play the "right" way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r16ktx Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 Wikipedia has interesting things to say (as usual) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laterality and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-dominance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 Occasionally raised eyebrows at cricket as I batted righty but bowled leftie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftybassman392 Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 [quote name='KevB' timestamp='1439733506' post='2845279'] Occasionally raised eyebrows at cricket as I batted righty but bowled leftie. [/quote] Cross dominance is actually very common in cricket: Just in the current England Ashes squad:- Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Adam Lyth and Alastair Cook all bat Lefthanded and bowl right Right arm. Plenty of historical Left-arm/Righthanders and Right-arm Lefthanders too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarning Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 (edited) just done this test [url="http://www.thelooploft.com/blogs/ryans-corner/38917697-can-you-keep-perfect-time-take-this-test-and-find-out"]http://www.thelooplo...st-and-find-out[/url] I play left handed and was better with my left hand than right hand, could this be why it's better to play the way that feels the most comfortable? Edited August 25, 2015 by PaulWarning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Just tried that time keeping thing and scored around 870 with both right and left hand. Felt more natural with my right though (which is my plucking hand the way I play). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colgraff Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 I'm a leftie but play rightie. As a rule, if it requires one hand (ahem) I'm a leftie but if it requires two hands (boastful ahem), I'm a rightie. So in cricket, I bowl left-handedly but bat right-right-handedly. In bass terms, I suspect that this is why I have never found complex fret work too tough, but superfast fingering or slap stuff is beyond me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicko Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 I once had a (six string) guitar teacher who was a lefty but played as a right hander. He refused to teach anyone left handed and made them get a "proper" guitar. I'f I'd been left handed I'd have gone and got a proper teacher. My older brother was a lefty and I couldn't form even simple chord shapes with my right hand if I tried to play his guitar even when I was a novice. Mind you I wasn't that good if I played right handed after 30 years of practice either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colgraff Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 [quote]He refused to teach anyone left handed and made them get a "proper" guitar.[/quote] I heard it said that Noel Gallagher's guitar teacher did the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 [quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1440772556' post='2853755'] I heard it said that Noel Gallagher's guitar teacher did the same [/quote] Criminals, the lot of 'em. Should be burned at the stake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamdenRob Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 (edited) I am ridiculously right handed... Can play a note on bass left handed, can't throw or catch with my left hand... can't even hold a pen let alone write anything legible. Edited August 28, 2015 by CamdenRob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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